By MILLENNIUM TV REPORTER
IT is nonsensical for the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) director general to claim that the second plane the commission has seized was being hidden in South Africa when its movements were being monitored, Joseph Malanji has said.
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Mr Malanji, the former Foreign Affairs Minister says claiming that a plane could be hidden in South Africa was utter nonsense because it was impossible for anyone to hide a plane whose information was on radar.
In an exclusive interview with Millennium TV, Mr Malanji said the notion that his plane the DEC has seized was hidden in South Africa was senseless “because you cannot hide an aircraft. Every movement of an aircraft is through the tower. The helicopter went to South Africa for charters,” Mr Malanji said.
Mr Malanji has maintained that bringing the plane to Zambia was just wasting government’s time and resources because the helicopter was still under the care of a curator.
“The helicopter is supposed to be under the curator until the case is disposed of in South Africa. But they have decided to bring it to Zambia and when they lose their case in Pretoria, they have to send it back because both parties have got to be restored to their original status,” Mr Malanji said.
He explained that the position was that the helicopter was under a Curator and that the order used to retrieve the aircrafts was the South African one and not the Zambian courts.
“It is all abuse of authority. All being equal, the aircrafts are supposed to be with the Curator Bonis until the matter is exhausted in Pretoria. We should not be insulted just because we joined politics. We deserve some respect. People should wait until we submit to the court what we had before becoming ministers,” Mr Malanji said.
The former Kwacha Patriotic Front (PF) Member of Parliament said people should not be putting unnecessary pressure on the judiciary.
“Let’s walk the process of justice,” Mr Malanji said.
He said government should pay more attention to fulfilling its undelivered promises instead of spending time on witch-hunting which was not helping in reducing the cost of living for citizens.
A Curator is a care taker chosen by the court pending proceedings of the court. Common practice under the Dutch law
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